GOP women rally for president
Ohio faces a “dark future” if one of the 12 Democrats standing on stage Tuesday night in Westerville is elected president in 2020, say three leading Republican women who stand with President Donald Trump.
Ahead of Tuesday’s match-up at Otterbein University, the GOP women warned that “socialism” and a lack of free choice awaits unless Trump again wins Ohio and the presidency.
About 125 people filled a room at Powell City Hall on Tuesday afternoon for a Women for Trump event and to hear Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Mcdaniel, Trump campaign press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany and Ohio Republican Chairman Jane Timken.
When not crediting Trump for what they portrayed as a booming economy and more money in Ohioans’ pockets, they largely attacked Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts among the field of Democratic candidates. Former Vice President Joe Biden was never mentioned.
“Berniehontas” was Mcdaniel’s dismissive phrase, eliciting laughter for borrowing part of Trump’s fondness for calling Warren “Pocahontas.”
Warren and Sanders’ calls for “Medicare for All” are part of a “socialist agenda” that would strip Americans of their private health insurance and interfere with people’s choice of physicians while reducing quality of care amid “government takeover of health care, Mcdaniel said.
Sanders’ proposals to eradicate college debt and provide free higher education are welcomed only in a “crazy, progressive left wing,” she said.
The women’s remarks focused heavily on the economy, with Timken saying tax cuts and improved wages have placed $1,400 more in the pocket of the average Ohioan and improved job opportunities. “It’s all due to the Trump economy,” she said.
The impeachment inquiry of Trump by the Democratic-controlled U.S. House barely merited a mention.
“They’re trying to distract America from the fact you’re doing better,” Mcdaniel said, denouncing “backroom investigations” without a formal impeachment-inquiry vote in the House. “We’re at a crossroads. The Democrats want to remake how this country runs.”
The choice of Powell was not by coincidence. Trump easily carried many big-city suburbs in Ohio in 2016, but last year’s midterm election showed Mcdaniel suburban women’s support for Trump and the Republicans has eroded. Westerville went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and turned blue for the first time in many years on state legislative seats.
But, said Mcenany, “It’s a myth that suburban women don’t support the president,” with Mcdaniel saying Trump is again counting on his female supporters.
The doubling of the child-care tax credit and the fact women have filled 57 percent of new jobs shows Trump has “championed women on every level,” Mcdaniel said. Many women, Timken said, also appreciate Trump opposition to abortion.
“This is a time to fight for our president because he has fought for us the last three years,” Mcdaniel said.